Manhattan Beach Sales Volume

If you have not yet heard the news, the US is in a housing recession. The story is no different for South Bay real estate. We may be cushioned from most of the world in our luxurious oasis, but Manhattan Beach housing prices are off 34% from their 2007 highs, with sales volume down 46% over the same period.

Here’s a look at how sales volume has fared in Manhattan Beach over the last few years:

Sales volume is calculated by summing the dollar values of all sales across Manhattan Beach neighborhoods in each time period. The blue bar represents single family homes, while the red shows condominium and townhouse sales.

Just by looking at the chart we can see that sales volume hit a bottom in the first quarter (Q1) of 2009. Only $49 million of real estate transactions were closed, which is 65% below average Q1 Manhattan Beach volume.

Life has gotten better for Manhattan Beach real estate since then. Volume picked up significantly throughout the remainder of the year, with Q4 volume of $156M finally breaking above its seasonal quarterly average of $132M. Q1 2010 volume of $99.5M is about 30% below the Q1 average, but still well above the low point of the previous year.

The big question is how much of the volume increases were due to temporary fiscal (tax credits) and monetary (secondary mortgage market purchases by the Federal Reserve) stimulus measures? Will market activity drop off with the winding down of these measures, or have we already seen the low point in this Great Recession?